


Siri's Stories

by Sigilmancy



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2020-10-26 20:17:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20748131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sigilmancy/pseuds/Sigilmancy
Summary: Stories about a dwarf monk





	1. The Darkness Stares Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written for the October Megaprompt Contest on Subeta, prompt The Darkness Stares Back.

"Sir if you do not mind me asking, if this is supposed to be an easy job why are you willing to pay so much?" Siri stared up at the human she'd been negotiating with, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"My, you're a smart one aren't you?" The man chuckled. "Smarter than the average adventurer, at least. But I promise it is easy, the ruins are abandoned and getting the tome should be as simple as walking in and getting it. The danger lies in the tome itself; it holds great power, and if the legends are to be believed if you read the book it will grant you great knowledge but at the price of your sanity. Some say it may even be sentient, whispering to anyone holding it to tempt or trick them into opening it. Honestly I don't believe that, however." He waved a dismissive hand, shaking his head at the same time. "I think the book contains history, and maybe even some spellwork from a great wizard, and that the legends were simply started to keep people from obtaining the knowledge within. Spooky stories for the common folk and nothing else."

"I'm inclined to believe you, at least on that last part." Siri sighed. She wouldn't say it, but she did think that it would take more than fear to keep people from trying to get at the book - especially if it did indeed hold some kind of power. But she could not deny the money he was offering, that much was for sure. "I am not superstitious, nor am I afraid of much. So I will take the job."

"Good. You know my reputation and that I have the coin we agreed upon. You will be paid as soon as the book is in my hands." He smiled, glad to find someone who didn't turn tail and run at the first mention of the book's supposed powers.

Siri nodded and left without further word. There was preparation to be done, and as she had met with the man in the afternoon there was no point in leaving until first thing the next morning. Another night at the inn, another few hours spent tending to her gear and making sure she had enough rations and other supplies to venture out to the ruins. As the inn quieted down Siri finally drifted off to sleep, but it was restless and her dreams gave her no peace. In the darkness of unconsciousness she felt like she was being watched, but no matter which way she looked there was nothing....until thirteen eyes stared back at her from the shadows. Glowing eyes that didn't blink, staring at Siri in a way that left her paralyzed.

The dwarven woman woke in a cold sweat, panting and trying to get her bearings before she remembered where she was. The image of those eyes staring at her was burned into her memories, and she couldn't shake it even as she went about her morning routine of rechecking her gear, putting everything together, and heading downstairs for some breakfast before getting on the road. Two days to the ruins, and Siri did not sleep well the entire way; the first night she had the same dream of the darkness and the eyes, but on the second day the darkness gave way to an eerie red glow that she followed, finding herself on a stone path akin to her mountain home that ended in a doorway surrounded in what she could only describe as tentacles with jagged teeth growing out of them, four candles with an unnaturally red flame sitting around the doorway and more red light streaming from inside.

"Come to me." A voice echoed from that place, loud enough to shake the stone and make the candles flicker.

Siri woke in a panic, rolling over and dry heaving as the sensation washed through her. It was as if she could feel those toothy tentacles wrapping around her body, draining her and filling her with a sense of dread. After a few minutes to compose herself she sat up and ran a hand through her hair, sighing.

"Get it together, Siri. Just bad dreams, nothing else. You're stressed." She reminded herself, brushing off her experiences. There was nothing odd or crazy about this job, it was simple and it paid well. With that in mind she skipped breakfast so as not to simply throw it up later and began to break camp and get ready for the rest of her journey.

A cat's meow drew her attention, and Siri looked up in time to see a black cat walking away from her through the brush. She smiled, always having had a soft spot for animals, and made a mimicry of its meow to draw its attention. But when the feline turned its head to look at her Siri could only stare in horror as thirteen glowing eyes looked back at her, the cat's mouth as close to a knowing smile as any animal could be before it turned away and continued to head through the bushes.

If there was ever a sign that she was going after something she shouldn't be that was most definitely it. But once again Siri shook her head and convinced herself she was just seeing things. No way that was real, and no way was she going to turn back just because of some bad dreams and what was obviously some kind of hallucination.


	2. Smile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Done for NaNoWriMo 2019

Eventually Siri reached the ruins, staring down the crumbling stone with a wary eye. After the night before and the events of that morning she was unsure of what was going on but even if she wouldn't admit it to anyone else she was positive it had something to do with the book. Was something trying to ward her away from it, or was it calling to her in hopes of attracting the dwarven woman to open the book and unleash whatever power was within.

Still, the job was straightforward so she adjusted the straps on her pack and walked in. As described the book sat on a pedestal in the middle of what once had been a church or other religious structure of some kind but was now nothing but a few barely standing stone walls. The tome was intact, bound in some kind of leather, and just sitting there in the most ominous fashion Siri had ever seen from an inanimate object.

"Well, you're coming with me I guess." She mumbled to herself, approaching carefully and pulling a cloth out of her bag. The cloth was wrapped around the book so she didn't have to touch it directly, more because she really did not feel like having her hands on leather of dubious, possibly humanoid, origin than anything. Then Siri tucked the book into her bag and turned around to walk out of the ruins.

While making it there had only taken half a day and she could camp in the same spot she had the night before Siri didn't feel like doing that. She didn't even feel like retracing her steps, feeling like something she didn't feel like running into was following in her footsteps. So instead she turned and headed straight north, knowing she'd hit a main road and then be able to follow it west back to the city. Her hope was actually to hook up with a caravan heading that way at some point and find some safety in numbers among them to ease whatever fear she was feeling.

Siri did have to stop to camp before she reached the road, though she dreaded spending the night alone. She thought about pushing on but knew that being exhausted would not be helpful so she set up a small fire and sat down to rest. Eventually she dozed off, and fear became reality as she saw the darkness around her once more. Only now there were no eyes, there were just smiling mouths full of teeth that shone unnaturally in the black.

"Open me. Free me." The mouths spoke in unison, never breaking the smile, hovering close enough to be uncomfortable as if they knew Siri couldn't move. Even raising her arms to cover her ears seemed impossible as the phrases repeated, worming their way into her mind until she woke in the morning soaked in sweat and once again having to dry heave.

"Never..." She managed to wheeze out, side-eyeing her pack. "Just shut up and behave, I will turn you over and be able to live comfortably for a while." She muttered, forcing herself to get up and break camp to keep going despite the sudden weakness in her legs and a general sense of lethargy on top of still feeling sick to her stomach. Just another two days and the book would be in the hands of the man who hired her and stop being her problem. She just had to hold out until then.


	3. Journals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the Weekly Pet Prompt on Subeta, prompt Journals

My son, this journal is for you. In it you will find events from my life before you were born, and some of it may be disturbing to you. But I want you to know that those things happened before I even thought that one day I might have a child of my own, and I feel that I do owe you the truth.

I want you to know that no matter what I love you, and I always will. I gave you up so that you can have a better life than you would have with me. Your birth was the result of many mistakes I made in my life, but as soon as I found out you were inside of me I stopped all of it, I cleaned myself up so I could have you as healthy as possible. I even remember in the early months when I thought I might keep you, but as the pregnancy went on I knew I couldn't. You'd grow up clanless like me, outcast and looked down upon by other dwarves and never knowing your heritage because I'd be unable to show it to you. My job, as of writing this, is as a sellsword - people need protection or want something killed they pay me and I do it. That's a dangerous job, and you would often have to be left behind while I worked, and the travel would be hard on your little body. If something happened to me I would have to pray whoever I left you with would be willing to raise you, because there would be no one else. All of that was a gamble I wasn't willing to take with your life.

So in the last month before you were born I found another mountain, another clan, and I begged them to take you in. I told them that I would give you up willingly, and if they so desired you would never know that the family that ended up raising you was not your blood. It is....the hardest thing I've ever had to do. To swallow my pride and trust in others to raise the only good thing I've ever made in this world. I won't even get to know your name, because that will be decided by those who raise you.

It may have already happened. As I write this it is the day after your birth; the process was a long and painful one, because I swear it seemed like you didn't want to come out of me. In the end you were dying, and the midwife had to cut me open to get you out. I'm told I almost didn't survive, and for a while they didn't think you would either. But you live, and I've been allowed to see you once since then to confirm this. Your sleeping form, swaddled and content, will be all I have of you going forward. The dwarves are allowing me to stay until I heal, maybe a few more days before I can move and make the trek out of the mountain, and then I will be gone.

I have promised myself that I will send regular letters to the head of this clan for you, and after talking to him he said that he would save those letters for when you were older and then allow your family to choose if they want you to have them or not. I pray that they do, but I also understand if they do not. If they choose to not then you will probably also never see this journal, but that is something I accepted a long time ago.

Maybe some day we can meet and know one another, and you might even understand and forgive me, but that day is far into the future and all I can do is keep going one day at a time until then.


	4. Pins and Needles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the Weekly Pet Prompt on Subeta, prompt Pins and Needles

What was supposed to be an easy fight with only a few bandits had turned out to be a lot harder than they ever thought, leaving more dead than the captain would have liked and many more injuries. But the battle was won, and everyone was busy patching up. That included Siri, who lifted her shirt and held it there as one of the others looked at the gash in her side.

"Aye, you'll need stitches." The dwarf looked up at her, raising an eyebrow.

"Fine, stitch it up." Siri rolled her eyes, continuing to hold her shirt as the other pulled out a kit.

For a long while there was silence while needle pierced flesh, the cord behind it closing the wound so it wouldn't continue to be raw and bleed. When all that was done the other dwarf also laid on a bit of cloth saturated with a poultice, wrapping bandages around her midsection to keep it in place for a bit.

"You know the drill, don't move too much or you'll rip the stitches open. I'll check on it daily until it's healed, and you're on rest." He gave her a grunt as he stood up, shaking his head.

"I know, and thank you." Siri let her shirt fall, testing herself standing up carefully.

"Before we go back to the others, I have to ask; I saw the bottom of a tattoo up on the side of your ribs. I didn't even know you had one." He gave her a teasing smile, though that was quickly dropped when she looked at him with familiar distant eyes that spoke to a past she was haunted by. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said anything." He ducked his head and finished packing up, heading off to tend to others who were wounded.

Siri let him go, crossing her arms in a fashion that let her run a hand over the tattoo. A reminder of worse things, and also happier things. Feeling that she was pulling on her stitches quickly made her stop that motion, though, and she sighed before shaking her head and going to see what she could help with so as not to be completely useless before the remainder of the company headed back to their headquarters to report in.


	5. Hallucinating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Baern, Thoric, Seamus, and Augustus are other player characters in the D&D campaign I played Siri in. They belong to their respectful owners, not to me.

You know, it's funny. I left my mountain because I didn't want to serve my family and spent time on the surface getting to know the people there. I returned to a different mountain, to different dwarves, to help when I heard they were in trouble.

The other dwarves I've met here....Baern, Thoric, Seamus, Augustus....They're all so nice. I haven't felt this hat home around other dwarves in a long, long time. But they don't know my past, and while I can put on the smiling face I know they see me as different. I don't have a beard, I had no need of it in the surface world and it was tedious being mistaken for a man since surfacers don't seem to understand female dwarves can grow beards too. I don't drink, not anymore, not after my son was born, I promised his infant self I would do better, be better than that. The others don't understand, but I don't care.

And yet, I fear it is now getting worse. I haven't had hallucinations since I cleaned myself up, or at least not visual ones. Sometimes I hear things, but they're just whispers and they don't bother me anymore.

We've been helping surfacers, asked by the Thane we all served in the mountain against the goblins to do so. This one village has suffered so much assault; the lizardfolk they once did trade with turned on them a year ago, we know now influenced by a dragon to do so. A few miles away is a larger keep with some barracks that was also assaulted, though by what we don't quite know. Powerful magic that summoned monsters and left the grounds unholy, and a powerful mage who nearly killed us.

I saw that mage last night. He appeared and spoke to me, saying that we had interfered with the plans of a 'her' that he asserted was not the dragon the lizardfolk are being forced to serve. It wasn't up to us to make sure this small village survived. I stood up to him and told him that it was, and he left. I looked around for anyone else awake, for the other guard in the tower across from mine, but that guard was asleep and everyone else was out for the night, including my companions who had once more drunk themselves into a stupor as is common for dwarves. When I looked back out into the forest I saw a light, but it wasn't a torchbug. No, it was humanoid and it came closer but once again no one else was awake to see it.

I cannot guarantee that what I saw was real, that it isn't just the stress of the situation causing me to hallucinate again. That happens sometimes, and I've just grown used to it over the years. Sadly when working with other people it's a gamble; if I keep it from them and nothing happens then no harm done, but if something does happen then I will be forced to either tell them and possibly face the consequences of them realizing I had kept potentially important information or keep it secret still and then live with whatever guilt that may bring. On the other hand I could tell them, but if nothing comes of it they may think I'm crazy and if any of them should uncover my past it will only discredit me, and also if I tell them and something happens there may be questions such as why I had been the one to know these things. All around I have been put into a tough spot, but I think for now I will remain silent, and pray to our mountain father that if something does happen where that information becomes important this group will be kinder than others and understand the reasons behind my silence....


End file.
